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Clean Slate (Demos 2004​-​2014)

by Ben Yonda

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1.
Morning (Demo) _____________________ woke up talking to a long gone friend, clutching gold coins in your hand, a message that you said you’d never send, you better send it while you can, better send it while you can, sound out where i am, could only be, a city with such quiet streets, the sorely missed fades from the frequency, a tape loop coughing on repeat, clean slate in the deep freeze, seems as right as it ever did, catching the numbers as they fall, all the tomorrows i’ll be taking in, just keep howling at the moon, keep dreaming if you want to talk.
2.
DV Tape (Demo) _____________________ she learned how speak two weeks too late, to see his softer side, but every word she speaks bites at your cheek, begging to reply, and i know that’d she’d still find him there, inside that envelope, on that old hard drive, not sure that you’d even care, but on the DV tape you look so alive, yeah our shells keep moving, but we can lose them, if we time it right, and live like children, without a reason, up in that cloudless sky, and i know that’d she’d still find him there, inside that envelope, on that old hard drive, not sure that you’d even care, but on the DV tape you look so alive, he springs from the ink, of smudged out receipts, from when you were 25, from flip-phoning screens, bob dylan’s dream, we all went floating by, and i know that’d she’d still find him there, inside that envelope, on that old hard drive, not sure that you’d even care, but on the DV tape you look so alive,
3.
Taking the Bait (Demo) _____________________ from the pennsylvania pit, frozen tar on 26th, where the counterfeits trade christmas gifts, with the lost boys of sudan, and they’re all alone, all alone, in their plastic party hats, 2010 tons of trash, for the hoot-and-holler laughs, leaving the baby strollers home, and they melt into the RGB, just sleeping little silver screens, and we’re just keeping warm like human beings, and the calendar is our falling rain, i just hope someone keeps these words we’re saying, while we’re taking the bait, while we’re sleeping our days away, brass buttons pull from the vintage navy wool, their bellies full, their capital, busting at the seams, and it overflows, they got lawn chairs in the streets, where the tractor-trailers wheeze, past the pot holes in their feet, just outside the liquor store is home, where they’ll melt into the RGB, just sleeping little silver screens, and we’re just keeping warm like human beings, and the calendar is our falling rain, i just hope someone keeps these words we’re saying, while we’re taking the bait, while we’re sleeping our days away,
4.
Staying Up Orange (Demo) _____________________ the frozen wall, and the plastic plants, staying up orange, screaming hail through the laundry bag, just one eye, someone else’s clothes, yeah we’re surrounded, but no one needs to know, light as air, tracings in the dark, no i can’t see you but i know just where you are, the purple glow, you’ll be my patron saint, if you catch me leaving, just turn me the other way, the ever-changing man, always in between, free to fall and rise but never know what it means, your beauty builds, yeah let the mirrors moan, yeah i live here, but i don’t call it a home, it’s not warm and worn, there’s no holy ghost, just a whistling tea kettle and a spinning rotary phone, last names down, and sudden in my mind, it’s no secret, i just guessed and got it right,
5.
Lighter Side (Demo) _____________________ short little breaths, the long drive home, with the new man and the broken boy, couple hundred steps, your lips stained red, you said ‘another time’, still wonder what that meant, and just sit and spin in the background hum, you’re my new friend at the four-way stop, little broken home, little crooked knot, let the words burn sitting in your mouth, you know who you are, the paper chains and the chemicals, you know just where to start, on the lighter side of my heavy heart. short little breaths, the long drive home, with the new man and the broken boy, couple hundred steps, your lips stained red, you said ‘another time’, still wonder what that meant, and just sit and spin in the background hum, you’re my new friend at the four-way stop, little broken home, little crooked knot, let the words burn sitting in your mouth, you know who you are, the paper chains and the chemicals, you know just where to start, on the lighter side of my heavy heart. hold on to my arms, as your laying me down, lay me down, didn’t know a dream could get this dark, lot of open mouths, lot of lost-and-founds, you know who you are, the paper chains and the chemicals, you know just where to start, on the lighter side of my heavy heart.
6.
Sunrise Mountain (Joe Yonda Cover) _____________________ [arrangement and words by Joe Yonda] meet me on the top of sunrise mountain, be there before the first bird sings, my star's been true, i can't believe i’m finally free, we'll build a home up in the sky, between the stars and fireflies, meet me on sunrise mountain, i’ll see you in the city of brotherly love, be there before the whistle blows, my train's on time, just crossed the mason dixon line, iron moses bring me home, to a place i’ve never been before, meet me in the city of brotherly love, iron moses bring me home, to a place i’ve never been before, my star's been true to me, i can't believe i’m finally free, i’m finally free, i’m free, meet me at the edge of the rising sun, somewhere beyond the wilderness, my path's been true, led me all the way home to you, i’ve been to the mountain top, way up above the timberline, meet me at the edge of the sun, iron moses bring me home, to a place i’ve never been before, my star's been true to me, i can't believe i’m finally free, i’m finally free, i’m free, meet me on the top of sunrise mountain, be there before the first bird sings, my star's been true, i can't believe i’m finally free, we'll build a home up in the sky, between the stars and fireflies, meet me on sunrise mountain,
7.
Here in Snow (Demo) _____________________ keeping track, i’m dropping pebbles back, while i’m walking home tonight, the mirror’s man, he has changed again, but that’s just if i heard him right, because it’s the up and downs, your childhood towns, that finally find you out, but here in snow, with you gone, i’ve been shutting the light out and asking, who’s there to watch you breathe, and who’s here to keep death away from me, who’s there to watch you breathe, there’s no one here to keep death away from me, yellow edge, yeah the subway’s spent, there’s not a dime on fixing tile, so fold and bend, yeah let’s play pretend, that the backpack is not alive, ‘cause in a world of gods, and vegas odds, we’ve got no saviors looking out, me and you, yeah we’re the only two, why don’t you reach your arms out and ask me, who’s there to watch you breathe, and who’s here to keep death away from me, who’s there to watch you breathe, there’s no one here to keep death away from me,
8.
Share the Bullet Blues (Demo) _____________________ we’ll share this poison, and we’ll die just enough, the agony will certainly bind us, you are my home, my new found promiscuity, and i’m never alone, in optimism’s infirmary, we’ll share this bullet, but they’ll bury it with me, your thin heart don’t stop bullets, and your fingers don’t wear rings, you are my home, my new found promiscuity, and i’m never alone, in optimism’s infirmary,
9.
Talking (Demo) _____________________ took over talking yesterday, just grew tired of asking questions, got lost in what to say, got thirsty just tipping back the glass, and you taking your time, with the little clasp, and if you start to miss your friend, just remember you’re a fiberglass boat, and you live on land, you’re still dreaming, but the money’s spent, meet in the middle over me, yeah we’ll fall so much farther from the tree, it’s so loud and out of key to start again, well i’m early and i’m last, even you came after that, we’ll call the years just what they are, they’re just what comes next, we shared and yeah it started bad, i left my song with you, when it was all i had, still screaming words i thought were true, ones i thought i made, they came out easy, sounded new, well i’m early and i’m last, even you came after that, we’ll call the years just what they are, it’s just what comes next,
10.
Penelope (Demo) _____________________ what’s love, in a child’s mind every night just ends too soon, took the long way up, the cotton sleeve to the dark side of the moon, and who’s got the sharper teeth, and who is still staying up with me, no we can’t, we can’t save a thing, oh penelope, your tall tale eyes, close so suddenly, i feel the edges of the form, and the orange sun still to low to break, but the path to you is warm, and who’s got the sharper teeth, and who is still staying up with me, no we can’t, we can’t save a thing, oh penelope, the rubber band out of your hair, steal back all your broken bones, staring into all those red road flares, for the ones, the ones not going home, and who’s that there shimmering, and who got caught up in between, a dozen songs, and a diamond ring, oh penelope, no we can’t, we can’t save a thing, oh penelope,
11.
Fits & Starts (Brian Keenan Cover) _____________________ [arrangement and words by brian keenan © 2015] fits and starts, the pumping blood, built half of a bridge and dove into the mud, the salmon fog, with the silhouette dogs, hear the ringing clock back where I came from, stained glass walls, with character flaws, the surreal, impressionist ponds, you’re always in love when you’re grasping at straws, living into the next moment that comes, and it’s so strong I can’t get enough, she’s in my chest breathing through my lungs, i’m always changing my mind, and i’ve got no sense of time, and i don’t know why, my stomach is tight and the thoughts ignite, turning the corner i’m always surprised, the gasoline lights and your skin is so white, it’s like seeing the moon rise the very first time, stained glass walls, with character flaws the surreal, impressionist ponds, the approaching dawn, the effects all gone, we roll up the blanket and move along, traffic is slow we’ve got nowhere to go, imagine crashing the car over and over, fell into a dream, saw what became of me, with sunken eyes, no will to fight, holding a map by the candlelight, with a pocketknife whittling a pipe, talking to a dispassionate sky, i’m always changing my mind, and I’ve got no sense of time, and I don’t know why,
12.
Yellow Glow (Demo) _____________________ little man, cut in half, stitched backwards up in plastic bags, he’s just broke down, watching the crowds going by, until a coin drops, and i get paid, let’s take it out to monterey, before it’s me stitched up in plastic bags, it’s a long shot, yeah and it’s a short rope, for six stories and the student loans, it’s just you and me under the yellow glow, so i’m staying up, and counting breaths between, kings county and the little death, it’s just you and me under the yellow glow, little fire, a spectacle, left-handed with the marigolds, just looking up and counting the planes going by, from a tin roof, from a tire swing, from ten acres up in liberty, just lit out, leaving ‘em all behind,
13.
Franklin Tower (Demo) _____________________ she may have had it once, like some chemical Eve, saw your abstract body, not much talking, a real low-hanging dream, like it was today, the first hand in the room, it’s not that i’m sorry, but just in case, it turns out to be true, its like they never knew, rising oceans in the quiet room, he may have had it once, in a slow-moving wave, singing i will miss you franklin tower, yeah i’m begging you to stay, i know you better than every face in this town, i know the map pin stirring, our modern story, i know the taste going down, its like they never knew, rising ocean in a quiet room,
14.
16 + Lights (Demo) _____________________ oh yeah the prongs slip by, jolted back to youth, sixteen and light, i’m holding out, poison pen has got a few more lines, to fill you pretty head, with all them pretty lies, your foreign soil and my secret soul, taste salt water and you’re getting close, if i were you, wouldn’t spend my nights on stranger’s floors, it’ll seem like a little less, hurt like a little more, in the safest space between, the few memories’s you keep,
15.
A Farewell to Fluorescent Lights (Demo) _____________________ the sky tonight is infinitely wide, should make it easy for you to sleep, and everything you’d miss, favorite poison, goes down so easily, and you wonder why you feel so wide awake, don’t have to call it the easy way out, still got my friends on the radio, still got a thousand hours of tv shows, still got these words in my mouth, they stick to me like a summer door, all swelled up from the thunder storm, are you eating well, are you keeping warm for me, the sort of man, still standing there, looks a little less like you, he’s got shorter hair, a much longer stare, saying there’s not much left to prove, but you kept every word on every yellow page, and so we’ll call it the easy way out, still got my friends on the radio, still got a thousand hours of tv shows, still got these words in my mouth, they stick to me like a summer door, all swelled up from the the thunder storm, are you eating well, are you keeping warm for me, broken glass, broken days, broken every time you say you didn’t know, and cast aside, closest in mind, a farewell to fluorescent lights, oh no. don’t have to call it the easy way out, still got my friends on the radio, still got a thousand hours of tv shows, still got these words in my mouth, they stick to me like a summer door, all swelled up from the thunder storm, are you eating well, are you keeping warm for me,
16.
Some Other (Demo) _____________________ you’re calling up some city boy, but there’s a city boy you haven’t talked to, just wondering how you’re getting along, and how it’s possible you don’t belong to… some other, some other holding hand, to some other, some other city man, stop sitting by the window boy, because a window boy never gonna show ya, some happy ending with a sea shore girl, yeah she’s moving on, she probably swings from… some other, some other locket chain, with some other, some other sea shore face,

about

A collection of demos of unreleased songs and two covers spanning 2004-2014.


All songs written by Ben Yonda
© 2004-2014 Ben Yonda All Rights Reserved.
except Sunrise Mountain by Joe Yonda ©2015
Fits & Starts by Brian Keenan ©2015

All songs Produced/Recorded/Mixed by Ben Yonda (Los Angeles/Brooklyn)
except Some Other (Recorded by Ben Yonda and Brian Keenan) (Philadelphia/Brooklyn)

All instruments and vocals performed by Ben Yonda
except Some Other (Justin Staller-Drums, Brian Keenan-Guitar/Clarinet)

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released January 17, 2017

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Ben Yonda Los Angeles, California

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